2 August 2006

The government needs to increase the digital accessibility to its services by improving usability and awareness, according to a survey by Microsoft.

Some 64 per cent of UK residents do not use a local government website to gain access to services, the research shows.

This highlights the need to improve the usability of and access to online services for residents, which can "make their day to day life easier", states Terry Smith of Microsoft.

Mr Smith asserts that access to the Internet is vital for UK residents, irrespective of their social or economic circumstances, Publictechnology.net reports.

"Increasing access to and use of online public services has huge benefits and goes along way to help transform the public sector to provide modern and efficient services to the community," he commented.

However, the government's new Planning Portal website, which provides access to all aspects of planning applications, recently scooped an award for its usability and originality.

© Adfero Ltd

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